Inquiry-Based Learning and Sea Creatures in Kindergarten with Keely Kozak
A pillar of progressive education is inquiry-based learning—a classroom environment that empowers students to ask questions, supports their interests and curiosities, and provides them with opportunities to dive into topics that intrigue them. In our Kindergarten classrooms, this approach is woven into daily experiences, both at small and large scale, and can take many shapes and forms. It can be a teacher following up with a student after they ask a complex question during class, adding a class conversation or extension activity that incorporates or investigates a topic of interest, or creating an opportunity for project-based learning to explore a concept further. No matter the scale, each experience nurtures a love of learning and fuels creativity and independent thinking.
Each new year welcomes a new group of Kindergarten thinkers and wonderers, brimming with questions about the world around them. Some classes are fascinated by transportation, others about planets and space, and this year, Keely’s class has been especially interested in animals. Keely has channeled their excitement and intrigue at multiple points throughout the year to create special project-based experiences that weave together interdisciplinary elements, simultaneously honoring their interests and curiosities while thoughtfully supporting their academics.
Earlier in the year, a corner of Keely’s classroom became a veterinary clinic, where students took temperatures, wrote records, and cared for their stuffed animal patients with stethoscopes and clipboards in hand. Presently, Keely’s class has transformed into an aquarium, full of sea creatures swimming from the ceiling! The same corner now has bins full of shells, sand, and other aquatic treasures. Building on their excitement, Keely decided to adapt their upcoming nonfiction writing unit to center on sea creatures. Using their cardboard creations as inspiration, they will learn about their animal of choice and then write a collection of facts they’ve learned.
These early inquiry-driven learning experiences spark a love of learning, instill confidence in students and their abilities, and teach them that the classroom is a place where they are free to wonder and explore.
This kind of growth is only possible by creating an educational space where students feel comfortable sharing their questions and where teachers fuel curiosity, welcome and respect inquisitiveness, and guide students as they engage with and make meaning of the world around them.
Located in College Park, MD, Friends Community School is a progressive Quaker K-8 day school, founded on the belief that every child is a valued member of our community. We offer a challenging curriculum imbued with strong values of equality, integrity, community, environmental stewardship, simplicity and peaceful conflict resolution, rooted in our Quaker heritage.
Friends Community School
5901 Westchester Park Drive
College Park, Maryland 20740
301-441-2100
5901 Westchester Park Drive
College Park, Maryland 20740
301-441-2100
